Rodney’s Tongue is Rough

So, as soon as the stitches were removed, Rodney made it his principle task to lick the fur off of his belly, and then lick the skin off, too. I tried two varieties of “yuck”, evil tasting goops that you lather on around the wounds, to try to keep a cat from licking. Neither worked. I tried a salve, hoping that it would reduce the itching, and he would stop licking. He actually enjoyed eating the salve right out of the container. I tried a small tee shirt, with leg holes cut in it; that lasted about 12 hours.

Now we’re onto a soft E Collar, which is working (he can no longer lick his belly), but he is fairly annoyed. And annoying. He licks and scratches at the collar all of the time, which is loud enough to wake me up at night. He looks ridiculous, and the other cat, Oni, seems well aware that Rodney is now absurd. The collar makes it difficult for him to walk, because he keeps stepping on the thing. And it can focus sounds, when it is bent forwards, and this seems to make him freak out a lot when the birds squawk.

So. Rodney’s better. But not perfect yet. Another few weeks. Sound familiar?